Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Now I know how Peter King feels. Nearly every prediction you make, the opposite happens. This week, I played the role of King and now I have fantasy football owners lining up to kick me in the Peter. Here are some of the good calls from week 6, and the absolutely atrocious predictions that went down harder than Jay Cutler on third down. Sports cliché alert: I’m working to get better every week.

Good Calls:

Tony Romo – QB Dallas
The Vikings had a depleted secondary filled with undersized DBs heading into Sunday’s game with Dallas. So it wasn’t a surprise to see Romo, who I had ranked QB #2, put up solid numbers. His 220 yards passing wasn’t spectacular, but his 3 TDs sure were nice for Romo owners. Romo should be considered a top 10 QB the rest of the season, with several favorable match-ups still on the schedule.

Roy Williams – WR Dallas
With three CBs under 5’9” tall, Roy Williams seemed like a good play to me against the Vikings. I thought so highly of the 6’3” WR that I put him at #15 on my weekly WR rankings list. ESPN ranked him at #40. Considering how often the Cowboys are throwing the ball this year, Williams is a very solid WR3 in most leagues, maybe even WR2.

Ryan Torain - RB Washington
After watching Torain run on Sunday night, it’s hard to believe he started the season on the Redskins practice squad. The big bodied RB ripped off 10 yard runs like it was nothing against the Indianapolis Colts. Torain showed he can break tackles and find the red zone. His 100 yards and 2 TDs were a big reward to fantasy football owners who started him. I had him listed as the #16 ranked RB this week and have repeatedly mentioned him on this blog. I’m not saying Torain is the next superstar, but he is a nice guy to have in your starting line-up right now.

Joseph Addai – RB Indianapolis
Once it was clear that Addai would play Sunday night against Washington, I told Addai owners to start him. He’s too valuable to the Colts not to be on the field and he responded with 128 yards rushing and a TD. The Colts are on bye this week, which will allow Addai to get healthy. He is the best option in the Colts backfield and they know it, you should too.

Bad Calls:

DeSean Jackson – WR Philadelphia
Putting Jackson outside of the top 20 on the week 6 WR rankings seemed like a logical thing (I had him ranked as the #22 WR in week 6). He was coming off two mediocre starts and looked like a guy who had zero chemistry with Kevin Kolb. But Jackson’s 2 TDs on Sunday reminded us that top-flight WRs should always be in play. With that said, Jackson is expected to miss this Sunday’s game against Tennessee because of lingering concussion symptoms. After that Philadelphia is on a bye, but in week 9, look for Jackson to be in the top 10 with a very good match-up against Indianapolis.

Randy Moss – WR New England
It’s the closest thing to a sure thing in pro football, Moss ripping the Cowboys (I had Moss ranked #1 WR in week 6). Well, Dallas wasn’t going to let it happen in week 6, using two defenders on Moss the entire game. I predicted 2 TDs for Moss, instead he tallied just 55 yards on 5 catches.

Greg Jennings – WR Green Bay
The Packers were very public last week about their intention to get Jennings more involved in the offense. So far this year, Jennings has been average. Before week 6, Jennings had 14 catches in five games, including a real dry spell where caught just two balls in each of the last three games. Just when fantasy football owners were ready to banish Jennings to the bench (some did), he exploded for 133 yards on 6 catches, including an 86 yard TD. Let’s make sure to keep Jennings in the lineup next time (I had Jennings ranked #19 WR in week 6).

Kevin Kolb – QB Philadelphia
I didn’t even have Kolb ranked in my top 20 for QBs. What does he do? Promptly torches the Atlanta Falcons for 326 yards and 3 TDs. Kolb looks to be in line for another start in week 7 with Michael Vick still nursing a rib/chest injury. This week’s opponent for the Eagles is the Tennessee Titians. Don’t expect Kolb to repeat his week 6 performance, but then again, that’s what I thought last week.